MAKING THE REVOLUTION: AMERICA, 1763-1791 PRIMARY SOURCE COLLECTION

White House Historical Assn. Joel Barlow THE VISION OF COLUMBUS

___1787___ Book VII: Selections

* A lawyer, diplomat, and Revolutionary War chaplain, Joel Barlow pursued his writing ambitions after the war, joining the writers’ group known as the Hartford Wits (or Connecticut Wits). In 1787 he published The Vision of Columbus as an epic overview of the glorious past and promising future of the Americas, the lands introduced by Columbus to the European world. “Overview” is an apt word here: in the poem an angel transports the despairing Columbus from his Spanish prison cell, where he was held for weeks after his third voyage, to a mountaintop in North America and reveals to him the vast achieve- Joel Barlow, marble bust by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, ca. ments that will result from his “discovery.” Truly an Enlightenment poem, Barlow’s epic 1804 heralds man’s ability to drive progress and enhance virtue. We enter as the angel lauds Americans’ achievements in learning, science, and the arts.

. . . Bring, bounteous Peace, in thy celestial throng Life to my soul, and rapture to my song; Give me to trace, with pure unclouded ray, The arts and virtues that attend thy sway; To see thy blissful charms, that here descend, Through distant realms and endless years extend.  2010 Dr. Ellen K. Rudolph To cast new glories o’er the changing clime, The Seraph1 now reversed the flight of time; Roll’d back the years, that led their course before, And stretch’d immense the wild uncultured shore; The paths of peaceful science raised to view, And show’d the ascending crowds that useful arts pursue. . . . In youthful minds to wake the ardent flame, To nurse the arts, and point the paths of fame, Behold their liberal sires, with guardian care, Wren Building, orig. constructed in the late 1600s, Thro’ all the realms their seats of science rear. College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia Great without pomp the modest mansions rise; Harvard and Yale and Princeton greet the skies; Penn’s ample walls o’er Del’ware’s margin bend, University of Pennsylvania, on the Delaware River On James’s bank the royal spires ascend, College of William & Mary near the James River, Virginia Thy turrets, York, Columbia’s walks command, Columbia University, New York City Bosom’d in groves, see growing Dartmouth stand; Dartmouth College, New Hampshire While, o’er the realm reflecting solar fires, On yon tall hill Rhode Island’s seat aspires. Brown University, orig. College of Rhode Island O’er all the shore, with sails and cities gay, And where rude hamlets stretch their inland sway, With humbler walls unnumber’d schools arise, And youths unnumber’d seize the solid prize,

* ® Copyright © National Humanities Center, 2010/2013. AMERICA IN CLASS : americainclass.org/. Some spelling and punctuation modernized for clarity. Complete image credits at americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/imagecredits.htm. 1 Seraph: an angel of the rank seraphim In no blest land has Science rear’d her fane, fane: temple; sacred place And fix’d so firm her wide-extended reign; Each rustic here, that turns the furrow’d soil, rustic, i.e., rural person, farmer The maid, the youth, that ply mechanic toil, In freedom nurst, in useful arts inured, Know their just claims, and see their rights secured. . . . In no blest land has fair Religion shone, And fix’d so firm her everlasting throne. Where, o’er the realms those spacious temples shine, Frequent and full the throng’d assemblies join; There, fired with virtue’s animating flame, The sacred task unnumber’d sages claim; The task, for angels great; in early youth, Harvard University To lead whole nations in the walks of truth, Shed the bright beams of knowledge on the mind, For social compact harmonize mankind, To life, to happiness, to joys above, The soften’d soul with ardent zeal to move; For this the voice of Heaven, in early years, Tuned the glad songs of life-inspiring seers, For this consenting seraphs leave the skies, The God compassionates, the Savior dies. . . . Thus heard the hero  while his roving view Traced other crowds that liberal arts pursue; When thus the Seraph  Lo, a favorite band The torch of science flaming in their hand! Thro’ nature’s range their ardent souls aspire,

Or wake to life the canvas and the lyre. Benjamin Franklin, portrait by Robert Feke, ca. Fixt in sublimest thought, behold them rise, 1746. No American of his time pursued scientific experimentation and correspondence as much as Superior worlds unfolding to their eyes; Franklin. Heaven in their view unveils the eternal plan, Franklin Institute And gives new guidance to the paths of man. See on yon darkening height bold Franklin tread, Heaven’s awful thunders rolling o’er his head; Convolving clouds the billowy skies deform, And forky flames emblaze the blackening storm. See the descending streams around him burn, Glance on his rod and with his guidance turn; He bids conflicting heavens their blasts expire, Curbs the fierce blaze and holds the imprison’d fire. No more, when folding storms the vault o’er-spread, The livid glare shall strike thy race with dread; Nor towers nor temples, shuddering with the sound, Sink in the flames and spread destruction round. His daring toils, the threatening blast that wait, Shall teach mankind to ward the bolts of fate; Top portion of a lightning rod designed by Franklin, whose experiments with electricity were renowned The pointed steel o’er-top the ascending spire, throughout America and Europe

National Humanities Center  Joel Barlow, The Vision of Columbus, 1787, Book VII, selections 2 And lead o’er trembling walls the harmless fire; New York Public Library In his glad fame while distant worlds rejoice, Far as the lightnings shine or thunders raise their voice. See the sage Rittenhouse, with ardent eye, Lift the long tube and pierce the starry sky; Clear in his view the circling systems roll, And broader splendors gild the central pole. He marks what laws the eccentric wanderers bind, Copies creation in his forming mind, And bids, beneath his hand, in semblance rise, With mimic orbs, the labors of the skies. There wondering crowds with raptured eye behold

The spangled heavens their mystic maze unfold; David Rittenhouse, engraving after 1796 portrait While each glad sage his splendid hall shall grace, by C. W. Peale (detail). Trained as a clockmaker With all the spheres that cleave the ethereal space. in Philadelphia, Rittenhouse pursued astronomy, established his own observatory, and built noted To guide the sailor in his wandering way, models of the solar system (the “mimic orbs”). See Godfrey’s toils reverse the beams of day. Mariners’ Museum (VA) His lifted quadrant to the eye displays From adverse skies the counteracting rays; And marks, as devious sails bewilder’d roll, Each nice gradation from the steadfast pole. See, West with glowing life the canvas warms; His sovereign hand creates impassion’d forms, Spurns the cold critic rules, to seize the heart, And boldly bursts the former bounds of Art.

No more her powers to ancient scenes confined, 18th-c. octant similar to that He opes her liberal aid to all mankind; invented by Thomas Godfrey, She calls to life each patriot, chief or sage, a Philadelphia optician Garb’d in the dress and drapery of his age; Again bold Regulus to death returns, National Gallery of Canada Again her falling Wolfe Britannia mourns; Warriors in arms to frowning combat move, And youths and virgins melt the soul to love; Grief, rage and fear beneath his pencil start, Roll the wild eye and pour the flowing heart; While slumbering heroes wait his wakening call, And distant ages fill the storied wall. With rival force, see Copley’s2 pencil trace The air of action and the charms of face; Fair in his tints unfold the scenes of state, The Senate listens and the peers debate; Pale consternation every heart appalls,

In act to speak, while death-struck Chatham falls. Benjamin West, The Death of General Wolfe, 1771, depicting the 1759 death of the British general during the French and Indian War. A His strong, deep shades a bold expression give, Pennsylvania native who became the British court painter, West Raised into light the starting figures live: created many scenes of British and American military triumph. With polish’d pride the finish’d features boast, The master’s art in nature’s softness lost.

2 John Singleton Copley; see p. 4.

National Humanities Center  Joel Barlow, The Vision of Columbus, 1787, Book VII, selections 3 Fired with the martial toils, that bathed in gore  Tate London 2010 His brave companions on his native shore Trumbull with daring hand the scene recalls, He shades with night Quebec’s beleaguer’d walls, Mid flashing flames, that round the turrets rise, Blind carnage raves and great Montgomery dies. On Charlestown’s height, thro’ floods of rolling fire, Brave Warren falls, and sullen hosts retire; While other plains of death, that gloom the skies, And chiefs immortal o’er his canvas rise. See rural seats of innocence and ease,

High tufted towers and walks of waving trees, John Singleton Copley, The Collapse of the Earl of Chatham The white waves dashing on the craggy shores, in the House of Lords, 7 July 1778, oil on canvas, 1779-80. Encouraged by Benjamin West to study in Europe, Boston- Meandering streams and meads of spangled flowers, born Copley eventually settled in England and continued his Where nature’s sons their wild excursions lead, career producing portraits and expansive historical canvasses, 3 including The Death of General [Joseph] Warren (1775, Battle In just design, from Taylor’s pencil spread. of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, near Boston).

Steward4 and Brown5 the moving portrait raise, Yale University Art Gallery Each rival stroke the force of life conveys; See circling Beauties round their tablets stand, And rise immortal from their plastic hand; Each breathing form preserves its wonted grace, And all the soul stands speaking in the face. Two kindred arts the swelling statue heave, Wake the dead wax and teach the stone to live. While the bold chisel claims the rugged strife, To rouse the sceptred marble into life; 6 While Latian shrines their figured patriots boast, John Trumbull, The Death of General Montgomery at the And gods and heroes crowd each orient coast, Attack on Quebec [1775], 1786. Born in Connecticut, Trumbull 7 also spent a portion of his artistic career in Europe. Known as See Wright’s fair hands the livelier fire control, the “Artist of the Revolution,” he painted four large Revolution- In waxen forms she breathes the impassion’d soul; ary War scenes commissioned for the U.S. Capitol rotunda

The pencil’d tint o’er moulded substance glows, NPS/Morristown National Historic Park And different powers the unrival’d art compose. To equal fame ascends thy tuneful throng, The boast of genius and the pride of song; Warm’d with the scenes that grace their various clime, Their lays shall triumph o’er the lapse of time. With keen-eyed glance thro’ nature’s walks to pierce, With all the powers and every charm of verse, Each science opening in his ample mind, His fancy glowing and his taste refined, See Trumbull8 lead the train. His skillful hand Patience Wright, wax portrait of George Washington, n.d. Born in New Hurls the keen darts of Satire thro’ the land; Jersey, Wright became widely known for her wax figures. After moving to Pride, knavery, dullness, feel his mortal stings, London in 1772, she opened a wax museum.

3 Unidentified. A British artist of the period, John Taylor, was known for his intricate pencil drawings; he never worked in America. 4 Perhaps referring to Gilbert Stuart, the Rhode Island portraitist who worked nearly twenty years in England before returning to the U.S.

5 Mather Brown, a Boston-born artist who also moved to England to pursue his career. 6 Latia: region of ancient Italy. 7 Patience Wright: see wax portrait of Washington, above right. 8 John Trumbull, Timothy Dwight, and David Humphreyscited in these lineswere members with Joel Barlow of the self-appointed “Hartford Wits” in Connecticut, intellectually centered around Yale University in New Haven.

National Humanities Center  Joel Barlow, The Vision of Columbus, 1787, Book VII, selections 4 And listening virtue triumphs while he sings; When Yankees, skill'd in martial rule, Proud Albion’s sons,9 victorious now no more, First put the British troops to school; Instructed them in warlike trade, In guilt retiring from the wasted shore, And new manoeuvres of parade, Strive their curst cruelties to hide in vain  The true war-dance of Yankee reels, The world shall learn them from his deathless strain. And manual exercise of heels; Made them give up, like saints complete, On glory’s wing to raise the ravish’d soul, The arm of flesh, and trust the feet, Beyond the bounds of earth’s benighted pole, And work, like Christians undissembling, 10 11 Salvation out, by fear and trembling; For daring Dwight the Epic Muse sublime Taught Percy fashionable races, Hails her new empire on the western clime. And modern modes of Chevy-Chases: Fired with the themes by seers seraphic sung, From Boston, in his best array, Heaven in his eye, and rapture on his tongue, Great 'Squire M'Fingal took his way, And graced with ensigns of renown, His voice divine revives the promised land, Steer'd homeward to his native town. The Heaven-taught Leader and the chosen band. 12 New York Public Library In Hanniel’s fate, proud faction finds her doom, John Trumbull (cousin to the Ai’s13 midnight flames light nations to their tomb, painter of the same name) wrote 14 the mock epic poem M’Fingal In visions bright supernal joys are given, during the Revolutionary War as And all the dread futurities of heaven. a Patriot satirical attack of Loyal- ists’ pro-British opposition to the While freedom’s cause his patriot bosom warms, war. These are the opening lines.

In counsel sage, nor inexpert in arms, 15 See Humphreys glorious from the field retire, poet John Trumbull, en- Sheathe the glad sword and string the sounding lyre; graving after portrait by his cousin John Trumbull, 1793 That lyre which, erst, in hours of dark despair, Let endless blessings round our nation rise, Roused the sad realms to urge the unfinish’d war. Cheer all our lives, and waft us to the skies! O’er fallen friends, with all the strength of woe, Thus strains of rapture charm'd the listening gales. His heart-felt sighs in moving numbers flow; While the low sun-beam glimmer'd on the vales: To rest the camp retir'd: ten-thousand fires His country’s wrongs, her duties, dangers, praise, Thro' the calm silence rais'd their bending spires: Fire his full soul and animate his lays; The bright moon rose; winds cool'd the cheerful Immortal Washington with joy shall own even, [evening] And wide magnificence enkindled heaven. So fond a favorite and so great a son. New York Public Library In his 1785 allegory The Conquest [End of Book VII] of Canaan, Rev. Timothy Dwight likened the American Revolution to the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite leader Joshua. These are the closing lines.

Rev. Timothy Dwight, engra- ving after portrait by John Trumbull

9 I.e., British forces. 10 Rev. Timothy Dwight of the Hartford Wits; see lines from The Conquest of Canaan, above right. 11 Epic Muse: Calliope, the muse of epic poetry; one of the nine muses in Greek mythology who inspires creativity in arts, history, and astronomy. 12 Hanniel: Hebrew leader chosen to aid Joshua in dividing the land of Canaan among the Israelites. [Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament] 13 Ai: a Canaanite city conquered by the Israelites under Joshua. 14 Supernal: coming from on high; celestial, of heaven. 15 David Humphreys of the Hartford Wits had been a Revolutionary War officer who penned widely read patriotic poems during the war, including Address to the Armies of the United States (1772).

National Humanities Center  Joel Barlow, The Vision of Columbus, 1787, Book VII, selections 5